Top Ten eBook Mistakes and How to Correct Them
Judy Cullins c.2004 All Rights Reserved.
Did you know that you already have an eBook inside you?
And, like your coach, you can earn thousands of dollars each month?
Even if you are a non-techie like me, you can write your ebook at the same time you write your print book. Or, solve your readers’ problems using other articles and reports already in your files. Expand a two-page article with a story or add other how-to’s.
If you want to double and triple your present book income, check out these mistakes and correct them now.
Mistake 1. You don’t write a short eBook first to test the waters.
Short is in the eyes of the beholder, but let’s say from 15-90 pages. Your future customers will be glad to download these pages and print only the ones they need to.
Your eBook needs to be more concise, easy-to-read, and compelling than your print book. That means you can shorten your analogies and stories. You can use a “success format” that poses a question (a heading) your reader wants answered, then answer it. This formula gets to the point quickly, and always remember, your Online audience is busy and doesn’t want a wordy style.
Mistake 2. You don’t check in with a professional editor or book coach before you sell your eBook.
Yes, it’s good to get feedback from peers, but you need to get a professional look at the final edition–someone who can set you straight about words and grammar that makes your writing vital and original. For instance, you need to drop your passive constructions such as “there is” or any form of “is, has, begin or start”. Limit the -ly adverbs that merely tell rather than show. Your readers want a picture and want to respond with their emotions. Limit your -ing forms of the verbs. Keep your copy in present or past tense.
Mistake 3. You don’t know your audience before you write your eBook.
Emerging authors make this biggest mistake. They have information, so why not write an eBook? Instead think about the audience you will serve. More targeted works well. People who want something quick and easy that will save them time and money–another audience. The best one so far in the untapped Internet or Online audience. Mostly small business people, they are eager to buy what they need to make their life or business more enjoyable, profitable, and easy.
Right now, think of your one or two preferred audiences, and keep their profile of their needs, complaints, or problems as well as their picture by your workstation. Then you will write the book your pre-sold audience already wants!
Mistake 4. You don’t automate your business .
As a newbie or non-techie, at first you may resist learning how to do this. Three years ago I knew nothing about the net, and today I’ve published five eBooks on Internet marketing and eBook writing and publishing. You can too, little by little.
Since each book will not bring you landslides of profit, think about limiting your small priced books. Or, bundle them so that each sale is around $20 and up.
Offer your eBook for sale through an 800 number. One with excellent service is MRC business Support at 800-366-5596. Set up a link for people to download your book. Two companies to investigate are Clickbank.com and Paypal.com.
Delegate some of this work to your computer assistant. Contact your local high schools and technical schools where Online geniuses live. And, the cost is nominal in comparison to the results.
Mistake 5. You don’t have a title that sells well.
A good title is short, clear, and clever. The best title includes your book’s number one benefit. Use words your audience can relate to. Even cliches are OK for book titles. Instead of “How to Market Online” offer a title like a Web site headline:
“Quadruple your Monthly Book Income–Market Online.”
Brainstorm a list of your possible titles with associates through a small marketing survey. Ask them to vote from 1-10 and offer their own title ideas that would make them reach into their wallets and pay $15-20 or more.
6. You don’t leverage your eBook for higher price sales.
When you look at the valuable information inside your eBook and you realize you only make $20 a sale, you may want to investigate putting it into an eCourse. These courses sell for $79 and up. With just a little revising and tweaking, you can set your book up to be a hands-on how to course.
You can bundle several lower cost eBooks and list their singular prices. Then offer a fabulous discount to buy all three or four.
Mistake 7. You don’t add bonus value to your eBook.
Whenever you put 2-4 bonus special reports at the end of your eBook document in Portable Document Format, you make your offer so appealing, that many will buy for the bonuses alone. For an eBook on How to Write your EBook or Other Book–Fast! an eBook that sells for $24.95, the author offered these three valuable bonuses as an incentive to buy. “Titles Sell Books” - value $4.95, 2. “Write Like a Pro Checklist.” - value $3.95, and 3. “How to Get Testimonials from the Rich and Famous” - value $5.95 . That’s $15 of valuable reports added to $24.95–Total value: $40.00 value for only $24.95.
She put a new link on her Web site “Discounts of the Month.” With a limited time offer, from her ePromotion bi-monthly offers, she got many new buyers. Everyone wants useful, original information. Everyone also wants a bargain.
Mistake 8. You put too many topics in your book.
Remember, best sellers focus on one main topic. Each chapter must support that subject. When you try to give too much, your information isn’t organized, short, and compelling. Instead of the end all, be all book, concentrate on one “how-to” and give plenty of details to make it useful to your reader.
9. You don’t market while you write.
Most writers wish someone else would do it for them. Not in this lifetime! It’s so much easier to put marketing into each chapter title, each chapter’s questions you will answer, rough draft of your eBook’s back cover (sales letter), the One-Minute “Tell and Sell,” and knowing your targeted audience, thesis and table of contents before you write a single chapter. Knowing these essential “Seven Hot-Selling Points” before you finish your eBook will have you ready to promote the second you write your last word. .
10. You don’t brand yourself, your business, and your book.
Some people join an affiliate program or set up an affiliate program for others to sell their products and sell many products. As a marketing coach, what I want for you is to think of the overview “umbrella” you can house your products under. Think about your biggest benefit you offer through your service. Think about your book title. Can you put a key word from it into each chapter title? For the book, “Passion at Any Age,” the author put the word passion in each chapter title such as “Passionate Self-Care”. In one client’s book, “Watch Out! Your Relationships Can Be Hazardous To Your Health.” the author included the key words “watch out!” in each chapter title.
The eBook earning curve while short, is important for all writers to conquer. It’s easier when you contact a professional coach or take a teleclass to inform yourself. Stop making eBook mistakes so you can earn the money you deserve.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Judy Cullins: 20-year author, speaker, book coach
Helps entrepreneurs manifest their book and web dreams
eBk: “Ten Non-techie Ways to Market Your Book Online”
http://www.bookcoaching.com
To receive FREE “The Book Coach Says…”
go to http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml
Judy@bookcoaching.com
Ph:619/466/0622
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Many of our guests use “Podere Le Noci” as a base for their daily trips to the coast, and Tuscany and Umbria’s historical towns and museums.
Others prefer to rest in the quiet and peaceful Tuscan hills here in all their famed beauty.
“Podere Le Noci” offers 15 rooms with authentic furniture in rustic tuscan style, terracotta floors and old beamed ceilings. Each room has a private bathroom, satellite TV , frigobar , safe , hairdryer, air conditioning and a dial-out telephone. A beautiful park, large outdoor swimming pool in a panoramic position and private parking are available to guests.
The large, warm lounge room and breakfast room welcome you with their arches, terracotta floors and wooden beams, reminiscent of when the hotel was a large farmhouse, with its own vineyards and olive groves. A buffet-style breakfast is included in the price . Family-run
If you are interested in a cheap hotel in Radda In Chianti, pls visit our catalogue of Hotels all over Italy, where you can find also a wide range of Bed and Breakfast in Rome and Hotels in Florence, from cheap to luxury, togheter with Sorrento Tours
Title: WHERE CAN I PUBLISH MY BOOK? (PART 1) Author: Arthur Zulu Contact Author: mailto: controversialwriter@yahoo.com Copyright: Copyright © Arthur Zulu 2002 Word Count: 518 Web Address: http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/10975
Publishing Guidelines: Permission is granted to publish this article electronically or in print as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.
WHERE CAN I PUBLISH MY BOOK? (PART 1)
By
Arthur Zulu
“If you write without getting published, then there is no use in writing at all” Those are words of wisdom from someone who wants you to seriously consider publishing your book.
But before you really do so, you will do well to consider these questions:
1.Have I actually written a best - seller?
2.Do I believe that people will read my book?
3.Is my theme such a timely one that the public should know?
4.Am I expecting responses from my readers?
5.Will I benefit in one way or the other from the publication of this book?
6.Will I be contented even if I don’t make money?
If you answer in the affirmative to one or more of the above questions, then do not hesitate to listen to the above advice to publish.
It will, therefore, be nice for you to know different publishing channels available, so as to enable you make an informed decision.
Trade Publishers Also called commercial publishers, these are the big fish in the publishing industry. They include Longman, Macmillan, Heinemann, Random House, Houghton Mifflin, Doubleday Books, Little Brown and Co., and Brace Jovanovich, among others. They publish without asking for payment from authors.
My advice to you is that if you are pre - published, if you are a new writer, do not waste your time submitting your books to these elephants. Because they will not publish you!
Yes, they have published a few unknowns like Eric Segal (LOVE STORY) and Kathleen Winsor (FOREVER AMBER) But what about the countless others who got the polite rejection slip: “We are sorry your book does not meet our present needs. Good luck”.
I am among that number. I got a rejection slip from one of them, one year after submission! Can you imagine that? Twelve calendar months! And in the end, you would have to pray to the god of good luck, to get a publisher. And after another one year, another rejection slip. Another prayer. So you would have to spend a lifetime looking for a publisher, after months or years of hard work, writing your book.
The point is that they don’t have the time to read your book. Or they can’t recognize a good book if they see one. Or, they can’t afford to risk their money publishing a new comer like you, without hope of getting huge profits. Or, all of the above.
But consider: If you were a great writer, perhaps a Nobel Laureate who had written a magnum opus. Or, if you were some celebrated politician with a memoir about your dalliance with some red - lipped prostitutes.
Or, if as a scientist, you had written a book about how time travels backwards, titled THE THEORY OF BACKWARD MOVEMENT. And you even promise to take your readers in a space ship to witness some epochal events — pick your choice — the fall of Carthage, (history), the splitting of the continents (geography), Noah’s flood (religion), and the real thing — the Big Bang (Science). Do you know how the publishers would react?
All of them, the above ones I have mentioned, and others not named, would rush to dangle certified Bank checks with ten digit figures before your smiling face! But try sending your unsolicited manuscript, you unknown writer; and be damned!
Copyright © 2002, all rights reserved
Paulo Coelho was born on August 24th 1947 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
At age 17 he announced his intention to be a writer. It was a decision bitterly opposed by his parents, partly because Brazil at that time was under a military junta that persecuted writers and intellectuals.
Coelho’s rebellious behaviour led his parents to have him confined to a mental hospital in Rio de Janeiro where he received shock treatment. He escaped - and was returned - three times.
With the arrival of the 1960’s Coelho threw himself energetically into the counterculture of drugs and rock-and-roll.
In his 20’s he fulfilled his ambition to be a writer and worked as a playwright, a theatre director, a journalist, and a song-writer for Brazilian pop music stars such as Elis Regina and Raul Seixas.
In 1974, says Coelho “my life collapsed”.
That year he was arrested three times, the first time as an innocent bystander at a bank robbery, the second time for speaking out against the establishment at a pop concert. After being released by the police he was arrested a third time by paramilitaries who tortured him for a week.
In the late 1970’s his life was back on track again and he became artistic director for CBS in Brazil.
But in 1979 he was suddenly sacked without explanation and he spent the next 2 years knocking on doors trying to get back into the music industry.
In 1981 he decided to try his luck in Europe and there met a member of an obscure Catholic Sect that studies the language of symbols: RAM or Regnus Agnus Mundi. He progressed within the sect and eventually became a Magus.
In 1986, on instructions from his mentor within RAM, Coelho undertook the pilgrimage to Santiago di Compostella in Spain.
The following year he published The Pilgrimage, an account of his experiences on the ‘Road of Santiago’.
In 1988 he wrote the book that would make him an international celebrity, The Alchemist, a story about following one’s destiny and being open to the universe of signs and symbols.
The Alchemist became an instant best-seller and has since sold over 11 million copies worldwide.
Coelho’s eight novels have sold over 37 million copies in 56 languages and have been published in 140 countries.
In 1998 the French magazine ‘Lire’ listed Coelho as the second best-selling author worldwide.
Paulo Coelho has won over 15 international awards for his writing including the prized French award, the Insignia of Arts and Letters (1996). Critics have praised his writing for its “symbolic language that does not speak to our brains, but to our hearts”.
In 1998 Paulo Coelho was received by the Pope in the Vatican.
He has been appointed to the United Nations as Special Advisor for Spiritual Convergences and International Dialogues.
Coelho’s view on happiness: “The most mediocre thing in the world. I’d rather go by the idea of joy.”
Creating Content New websites are being launched daily. In order to compete, webmasters need to find alternative ways of producing themed websites. Highly focused articles are often sought by wembasters. Why? Because content on the web is still king! In order to attract search engines and site visitors, webmasters rely heavily on providing new, innovative and fresh content. If the web site content is rich, visitors will come. If the website content is updated regularly, visitors will return. When evaluating a website’s traffic it is easy to see that the low cost of syndicated content can increase a website’s value. Sites that contain multiple pages related to a specific topic increase the likelihood of being ‘found’ when a variety of search phrases are used for that topic.
By creating a niche resource, webmasters are viewed as industry experts and their websites are more likely to receive incoming directory links. A number of publishers provide free content, the only stipulation being that the webmaster serving the content must include the author resource box. Webmasters utilizing free content can easily create portals teeming with themed content.
Unlocking the Key to RSS Many webmasters are struggling to find fresh, innovative content while other savvy webmasters have realized the potential hidden within RSS and are adopting the technology at a maddening pace. By utilizing RSS, webmasters can tap numerous free content sources with very little effort. RSS truly is a webmaster’s key to free content.
Webmasters interested in taking advantage of RSS have a number of resources available to them:
GoArticles is a free content article directory with more than 20,000 articles available for syndication. Recently GoArticles added a feature that will allow webmasters and site owners to add dynamically updated article headlines to their sites by simply adding a single line of java script into their webpage. More than 100 articles are added daily to GoArticles. The content is refreshed and indexed every 3 hours, so new articles are updated on the site 8 times a day. Webmasters looking for content can include theme-based RSS feeds into their site, using java script supplied by GoArticles. The java script accesses an RSS feed that contains the article headlines on the GoArticles site.
GoArticles has 64 article categories, making it easy for webmasters to find content that suits their interest. Webmasters can select either the most recent articles in a specific category or the most popular articles in a specific category. As new articles are added to the GoArticles directory, the content on the websites using the java script will dynamically update. Additional details at: http://www.goarticles.com Example of a site using GoArticle’s feed - http://www.small-business-software.net/goa-seo-headlines.htm
Another article resource webmasters may find useful is Article Central’s tracker script. Webmasters can easily insert java script into their website to list all of Article Central’s new articles or site owners can customize the tracker code to list only those articles chosen from the article repository’s article category list. Articles relate to web development, design and technology-related issues and are updated daily. Additional details at: http://thewhir.com/find/articlecentral/tracker.asp Example of a site using Article Central’s feed - - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/articledirectory-headlin es.htm
Content syndication is a win-win for both the publisher and the webmaster. As a result of these new distribution opportunities provided by GoArticles and Article Central, publishers will receive increasingly more exposure for their articles and webmasters will have a new source for fresh content.
Webmasters interested in creating dynamic content from other free sources can use the free service provided by Feed2JS. All webmasters need to do in order to display the RSS feed on a website is enter the URL of the RSS source. Feed2JS creates java script that can be inserted into the HTML of the site owner’s webpage. Webmasters are also given control over how their content is served, meaning they can customize the look and appearance of the headlines. Additional details at: http://jade.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/feed/index.php?s=build Example of site using Feed2JS - http://www.feedforall.com/rss2java-rssblog.htm
Search engines are increasingly looking for theme-based portals by having specific targeted content where Webmasters are likely to be defined as industry experts. RSS is a free and easy way to promote a site and its content without the need to advertise. RSS is defined specifically for syndication; in fact the acronym RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. This means that webmasters serving RSS content do not need to negotiate complicated content sharing partnerships in order to use content contained within an RSS feed.
In order to completely understand the power and potential of RSS, webmasters may want to visit the following resources:
RSS Specifications - everything you need to know about RSS - http://www.rss-specifications.com Feedster - locate RSS feeds that are topic specific http://www.feedster.com FeedForAll - create RSS feeds from your own content http://www.feedforall.com RSS4U - free online RSS reader http://www.rss4u.com FeedDemon - desktop RSS reader - http://www.feeddemon.com
Most all ezine publishers need fresh content. Article writing is something that gets tedious to the publisher who sends out an ezine every week. Fresh, unique ideas are always attractive, and ezine authors don’t mind publishing others work, (along with a complete research box, (THIS IS YOUR AD) as well.
If you can learn and excel with this kind of content writing, you can win in two areas. Promoting your own site, or writing content for others site owners and earning dollars as a ghostwriter.
I have been writing and promoting on the web for over 3 years. Here are the tips I find most important to a beginning –article for promoting– writer.
Articles should be short enough to read in less than 5 minutes. Ideally they should be between 300 and 600 words (an average page in a printed novel is about 300 words). Top 10, or 7, (the number isn’t that important) Tips on (your subject) are great attention grabbers for articles to promote your website.
Write in short paragraphs, forget what you learned about in English class, if a paragraph is long, find a good point where you can cut it and put an extra line break. Browsing for content, readers are more likely to stick with reading something the eye can easily skim from top to end. (Notice with this article, I have added spaces between each bullet in this list :o)
If your article is long, break it into 2 or 3 parts. For a real web traffic puller, and list building technique, request them to sign up for an autoresponder version to receive 2nd or 3rd part. (be sure to give them opt-out options when you do it this way)
Here is a mistake I see many online authors’ making. Don’t use huge big vocabulary. You are not writing a thesis, or essay for school. Write so that someone with a 8th grade education could easily read it. Don’t try to impress with large vocabulary words, you will lose readers, who feel your writing is condesending to them. (See, how many do you think I may have lost using condesending?
Try to write with passion. Put feeling into your words. Pull in as many of the five senses, experience stories, as you can. For an example of this, read this article. Articles should educate, entertain or inform. Imagine how popular your article will be if it does all three.
Make sure your article is well formatted. You can post it at a site like ezinearticles.com and use their (”get this article page” to get your article in different formats, both text and html.) This sites also allow you to input your own personalized summary, and keywords, which allows webmasters to find them and use them as well.
Set a goal to publish a certain number of articles per week to a certain number of database sites.
It is easy to find sites to submit your articles too. Just go to google, type in articles, then, scroll to the bottom of the page. You will find a button which says, search within results.
With this search button type in “free articles” or “free content” or “free to republish” and you will find several submission sites. You can also type “article submission directories”
I have set a goal to do five things each day toward promotion. Each persons goals will be different, but remember, to be effective you must write new content and promote on a consistent basis.
However, if you have a good article, it will also duplicate itself quickly and spread across the web like a forest fire out of control!
You can optimize your article to get the exact keyword density for search engines, but that could fill another whole article. For your main keyword, try to use it about 7-10 times throughout the whole page. This article’s goal is to find article writer-promoter, webmasters to list their articles at my new article database.
Receive news about this site when it goes live by sending an email to this link: articledatabase@lauriemeade.com
Let me put my cards on the table straight away and say that I am primarily interested here in giving you an insight into what is involved in writing a serious novel. What I mean by ’serious’ will become more obvious, I hope, as I explain my position. For me the initial urge to write can be anything as mundane as a snatch of conversation, a character, a memory, an absorbing situation - any one of which might, if I’m lucky, push me off on the long journey of writing a novel. Then once I’m away and as my story develops, I discover that I am writing what I feel bound to call a serious work of fiction. This has been true of all my writing endeavours in the past. Not that I set out with the intention of being especially serious; I would say it was more out of interest that I lent an ear to whatever it was made itself available to my imagination. I was intrigued. You might say I thought it would be fun to follow that lead. But let me give you a clearer idea of that process from the experience I had of writing my last novel THE PURSUIT OF INNOCENCE.
Imagine me then one morning sitting before my computer screen and letting my fingers range over the keyboard. For some reason I begin with a young man (name not yet decided) running away into the night. Perhaps this is not the first bit of doodling of the morning but I like this young man who suddenly appears on my screen, and I persevere with him. I like his innocence, his will to live. So I decide to nurture him. Go with him. This young man is elated and fearful: elated, because he is running away into the dark to freedom; fearful, because he has no idea what he will encounter. There is a metaphor here for me as a writer (only later do I realize this) for I too am elated to have set out on my journey of writing a novel, though fearful also of how much I have yet to do in order to achieve that goal. But now the young man is on his way at least and I am excited for the both of us. You see, I am that young man.
There are days, months and even years ahead of us. But I am not yet to know this. Either of us could run out of puff any day. Or worse. After all, I have forced this innocent youth to jump from a train into a dangerous country, to run away from the loving care of those who have made a terrible sacrifice for him to gain this freedom. They have willed him to succeed, as I do. He cannot let them down. They are his history and he carries that history with him. So I push him on. But this young man needs an ally. He cannot bear to be alone, not now that he has lost his ‘brothers’, his true family, as it were. Besides, he needs someone to help him find his way home to freedom. He needs to get a map. So, out of this bleak, nightmarish land a house appears … then a woman: a strong woman who has known suffering … a mother … a loving and defiant creature with a history of lost ones too …
And so I write, on and on. I write through dark and dismal days when nothing much is achieved and I seem to have lost hope. By way of distraction and excuse I polish and re-polish sentences until they seem to stretch and groan under the weight of my attention. I fiddle endlessly with punctuation marks that act for me like worry beads until I can find the inspiration to go forward. Then the sun shines and I’m off again. I do not think of readers, of money, of best sellers. Not while I’m writing I don’t. I think only of this need I have to make it all come out right - whatever ‘all’ that is. This need - urge, itch, compulsion, call it what you must - is ever present within me. When things are going well it manifests itself as a powerful emotion, euphoric, almost palpable. And it seems to be working for me now. I think I will call this novel THE MAP. That title is solidly reassuring. It will do.
As time goes by my characters develop, grow to maturity at my fingertips. I see their faces clearly, hear the sound of their voices, recognize their own individual peculiarities. And I love them all. I love their goodness; I love their humanity that shines through the darkness of the horrors they have to face. And I am convinced that if I love them enough and care for them enough, by bestowing on them all the skill I have as a writer then any reader of mine will care for them and believe in them as much as I do.
But I see trouble ahead for these characters. Theirs is not a kind world to find oneself in. I should know. Yet the sentimental side of me wants all these good people of mine to live and be happy right to the end of the last chapter. Their suffering should grant them that comfort at least. But I cannot save them from what is bound to happen to them, though I would if I could. I have no recourse to flying broomsticks or wizards or romantic swashbuckling heroes. No one can come to their rescue here. They are too substantial for magic, for wish fulfilment, and the world they inhabit is their natural element. You see, everything here in this novel of mine is as real as my fiction can make it. And my characters know it too. We have colluded in this, made our pact. When all is said and done we know that we have to face up to what’s in store for us. That is the truth we acknowledge. Our bible. Any cop-out would be demeaning to the whole enterprise. Not worthy of us. There is no going back. This is serious stuff.
Serious? Yes. For while I am preoccupied with shaping plot and character and story the serious business of what the novel is struggling to articulate has been brewing away all along. It is deep down there somewhere in the misty undercurrent of all these writerly preoccupations. Down there you will find an exploration of the characters need for one another, the nature of family and loyalty, the struggle of frail individuals against the tyranny of absolute power, the wish to leave ones mark in the world, to be remembered … Above all there’s the pity of being alive in a cruel and unforgiving world.
And I have been exploring these issues all along, developing these themes without actually been fully conscious of doing so; certainly without deliberately setting them out for display. But they are there sure enough and they are the lifeblood of my story. You might say they are the heart and soul of the novel, realized spontaneously, so to speak, through character and situation. All along they have been the force propelling me along the way towards that inevitable conclusion: the finished work. And this is the business, as I see it, of what the serious novel is all about. Indeed it is the business of all serious novels. For such novels invite us as readers to explore the issues that should concern us most if we are to count ourselves as being truly human.
So now when I consider what I have been doing and the complexity of issues that are being developed in this work I see that my original title THE MAP will not do. It is too basic and explanatory. Too perfunctory. For a start the innocence of my young character is pervasive throughout the novel in various guises. As an innocent he is being pursued by the authorities. True enough and literally quite obvious. But what about the farmhouse that is intended by the woman and her family as a refuge from the callousness of the world outside? Is not that the pursuit of an innocent, idyllic existence? Misguided as it turns out, I know. Then there is the political dimension, explored through the injustices and brutality inflicted by the most autocratic of regimes, such as the one in this novel. Yet do not these regimes often have their genesis in the pursuit of some worthy, perhaps ‘innocent’ notion of how the world should conform to some utopian ideal? This may be to stretch the term ‘innocence’ a bit; but at least it allows for an extended discussion of the point at issue here. So for me THE MAP as a title will not do. THE PURSUIT OF INNOCENCE will suit me better. It invites a more searching appraisal of the work in question. That is what I must have meant all along. And that, for me, is what writing the serious novel is all about.
THE PURSUIT OF INNOCENCE by Clifford Forde is available from Mountain Mist Productions at http://1stmist.com
I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate your first paragraph and what you can do about it.
A Biggie
First paragraphs are a huge issue with me. Better to have died a small child than get this one wrong. If you can get just this one thing right, your publication rates will go through the roof. Unfortunately, almost nobody does it correctly.
The entire issue comes down to meta tagging. When I create a page on a site for an article, I have to enter the meta title and meta description. Your headline is the meta title and your first paragraph should be the meta description. If your first paragraph doesn’t fit my meta description needs, I will blow by your articles like a debutante on Rodeo Drive with a new credit card. I don’t have time to re-write your masterpiece. Don’t make me.
Here is what I want:
1. No more than 38 words.
2. Preferably two sentences.
3. Your keywords in the first sentence.
Now, that seems easy enough, but none of you do it. Instead, you charge right into the body of your article and write these truly horrific 10 line first paragraphs. I HATE these. I will not publish you. I may decide to never look at your articles again.
Writing articles can be a challenge. Often, the best way is to just start writing. I have no problem with this approach. All I ask is that you write a two-sentence introduction after you have finished the article.
Scroll back up to the first paragraph of this article. What do you see? Three short sentences totaling 26 words. The keywords, “publisher” and “first paragraph” are contained within the three sentences. When I publish this article, I will copy the first paragraph and slam it into my meta description.
Wham! Bamn! I’m off to the next article.
This approach has a huge benefit for you as well. When I publish articles in this format on sites, the articles will appear high in the search rankings for Google, Yahoo and MSN. Put another way, you will be able to piggyback my high ranking sites and get your article in front of your target audience. This means traffic for both you and me, which should make us both happy.
The first paragraph is extremely important. I will look past crappy headlines and ungodly spelling errors if you write a good first paragraph. I am a lazy person. Make my job easy and you will benefit.
Most commonly a gambling saloon is an edifice that caters to friendly gambling. At such a place, guests are encouraged to take a chance handling the slot machines or trying out plenty of other pastimes of luck. Betting saloon games normally have numerically derived odds included that insure the gambling establishment possesses its leverage against the gamers. web gambling
More often than not, betting establishment games can instigate you to get hooked very rapidly. E.g. there’s the simple slot machine, a coin operated instrument with three plus gears that circle if a crank affixed to it is yanked. The machine mostly returns in accordance with a sequence of emblems seen on the information screen of the gadget. Regrettably, betting saloon pastimes will convey the delusion of being in full control, thereby conning the gaming aficionado - the punter is confronted with judgments, but actually these cannot hope to realistically remove the customer’s overall negative odds. That is induced by the gaming room not refunding the full wager as hoped for. This arrangement is notoriously found in popular casino games like five card stud poker, dice games, roulette or blackjack.
Five card stud is really a highly fashionable casino game. The customers, playing with hidden cards, must place bets in a principal pot which is finally granted to the last player possessing the best hand. (Obviously, the best bluffing hand may well prevail as well…) Not far removed from five card stud poker, blackjack is likewise a highly trendy casino game. Much of its popularity is owed to its particular mix of luck and smartness & decision making, and a system dubbed Card Counting. It is a skill through which gambling enthusiasts may actually shift the arm of chance of the game to give them an advantage by both betting & strategy actions correlating with the cards dealt.
Craps is another acclaimed gambling hall game involving the throw of dice. Visitors will bet on the end result of 1 cycle, or on a series of spins of 2 dice. Dissimilar to blackjack, there can’t be a probable killer betting system punters could put to use to improve the chances.
Roulette is another famous game: a croupier revolves a roulette wheel which holds precisely thirtyseven (classical roulette) or exactly 38 (American roulette) separately numbered slots in which a white ball will then settle, which signifies the final winning number and its related odds. Assuming that the gamer happens to wager on a particular number and makes it big meaning it’s their lucky day, the payout is going to be thirty-five to 1, the stake itself is rebated. Thus the stake itself is increased by thirty-six.
Do your best to be emphatically on the alert notwithstanding for each of these betting hall gambling pastimes are positively addiction forming. An incredible number of lives are proven to have been spoilt due to uncontrolled gambling & notwithstanding that it definitely may be entertaining, do please endeavor to regulate your play.
There are several main reasons why putting your software manual on-line is necessary. It makes your web-site attractive for search engine crawlers and therefore brings you targeted traffic from Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and other search engines. A good online manual makes your product serious and credible. Moreover, if a user faces difficulty using your software and asks for technical support, you may easily resolve the issue by referring that user to a certain page of your online help. Simply give the page’s URL. With just one click the user will see screenshots and explanations which will help them to settle the case.
Many software vendors, from large companies to independent developers, clearly understand these reasons. They made their help systems a part of their web sites by aiming to attract more prospects and to generate more sales. But even a sketchy analysis of a dozen manuals available online discloses a bunch of common mistakes which may reduce the effect of this very powerful tool. The main reason of the mistakes is incorrectly considering an online manual as a standalone document that user can download or read on the web site. The right approach is to make your help a part of your web site. This is a pretty simple task if you follow these rules:
Make pages! Not a file
The most common mistake I noticed on many software vendors’ web sites is that they offer their manual in a single file: PDF, CHM, RTF, etc. Certainly it may be very convenient for users to download a product manual file and use it on the desktop, especially if the manual is too large to be included in the software setup package. But having an online manual is not the same as having a manual online. Feel the difference!
It’s very smart to allow users to download a complete manual as a single file. However a file may attract just a few new visitors from search engines, even if their crawlers are able to index your PDF or RTF. Also the file is almost useless for your technical support needs. For instance, you may not point users to certain sections of your help system by simply giving them direct URL links. Hence to get the maximum effect out of your help system you should make it a part of your web site. Split the manual into many pages and convert them into HTML. Almost all serious help authoring software allows exporting your help file into HTML format. Each page must contain a certain section or a chapter of your manual. Many pages which are relatively small are easier for reading, navigation, and bookmarking. You nevertheless must keep the balance. Don’t make a lot of little dinky pages that people must roam through to make up a required solution. Each page should completely cover a certain topic enough to solve a certain task. Furthermore, a page with topical content is perfect bait for search engine crawlers.
Follow common style
Well, you have exported your help file into a set of HTML pages and are ready to upload them to your server. Stop! Check the look of the pages. The set must follow the common style identified by the corporate identity.
The modern help authoring tools allow customizing appearance of pages by means of CSS or visual template collections. The online manual must correspond to your web site style. Use the same color themes, fonts, and corporate graphics. Otherwise, the whole project will look like a patchwork quilt. This is not good; it’s far better to look steady, well-managed, and consistent.
“Where am I?” or don’t ignore navigation
Following common style is not just using the same colors and fonts. To plug manual’s pages into the web site structure you must add the top level navigation into them. Use the same top level menu that you use on all pages of the site.
There are two key benefits of this technique. First, this also makes your web site appear solid, consistent, and well-thought-out and therefore works for your business credibility. Secondly, the top level navigation menu will bring new targeted leads from your manual pages to your product main pages. The prospects that have come from search engines are likely looking for specific task solutions that probably are described in your online help. Then they will want to know more about the product that offers that solution. Put under their nose direct links to the software description page, to the trial download area, to the pricing and ordering info, and to the main page of your web site. Let them know more about your company. Let them know about your software. Let them download it. Let them buy it.
Besides offering prospects a toplevel menu, you must provide them with an easy way to navigate among sections of the manual itself. People feel more secure if they see the table of contents along with the page content. Through this internal menu they may easily realize where they are and what related topics exist, and easily jump there.
Avoid frames
At first glance, using frames seems the perfect way to organize the internal menu of the help. Certainly frames are convenient for web site programming and maintenance because you may keep your menu in a single file and show it in a separate frame. Nevertheless, there are several disadvantages to using frames in your online help. When a visitor comes from a search engine to one of your help pages, they will see only that page’s content but will see neither top-level navigation nor online manual menus because they were intended to be shown in other frame windows. So the people who come from external pages will fail to easily jump to other sections of your web site and to read about your products and related services.
If you still prefer to use frames then you must use a workaround. One of the approaches is to plug a special JavaScript code into every page of your web site. The script will determine if the page is showing in the frame or in the browser’s main window. If there is no frame detected then the script will build the frame structure, will load the menu pages in the corresponding frames and will finally reload the current page in the appropriate frame. So the user will see the target page along with other elements of the web site. Such dynamic redirection works for real visitors but doesn’t work for web spiders that will crawl your online help pages. Most of them cannot parse JavaScript code and therefore cannot access menus to jump to other pages of your manual. For search engines your online manual’s pages will look like separate files that are not linked to each other, or to the corporate web site. As a result, your help pages will receive lowest page rank and will be shown in the end of the list when someone is looking for related info on a search engine. Almost all SEO and web design gurus recommend avoiding frames and put both menu and content into a single HTML file.
Use direct links, not redirect scripts
Like frames, using JavaScript in menu is another no-no for creating an online manual for your software. Using regular URLs in menu links instead of JavaScript redirecting helps web crawlers properly index your online manual and rank its pages higher.
Assign unique addresses to help pages
And the third important technical aspect of online help authoring is page address format. One of key rules of search engine optimization (SEO) implies to use static pages with unique permanent addresses without parameters in them. A page with address installation.htm is usually ranked higher than the same page with address page.php?id=348. Take this fact into account.
Give screenshots
Although one of your aims is to attract search engine’s web robots that like words you should not forget about real visitors who like pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words. Give as many juicy screenshots of your software as possible. This will help current users understand better how your software works and will help prospects to see how it looks before downloading a trial or demo copy. Make your screenshots clear. Explain what each window does and how its controls and elements work. Use callouts, balloons, and special marks. Try to stuff as much info into the screenshots as possible. A reader must look at them and say “Great! Now I know how it works.”
Make pages printable
Most likely users would like to print out a certain part of your online help. Sometimes design that looks great on the display is awful when printed even on a good printer. Make sure that your manual’s pages are printable in black and white at least on the two most popular paper sizes: A4 and Letter. Check if there are no big pictures, no color background, the fonts are easy to read, all the content fits the page width, and so on.
Make your help easily reachable
So you have your help pages completed and even uploaded to the web server. How to make them visible to web spiders and to live visitors of your web site? Most of the software vendors make the same mistake. They thought that the manual is something unimportant that nobody needs. They hide the help section so deep in the website that a visitor has to make a dozen clicks to reach the help index page. This is wrong! Your manual is important and must be reachable in two to three clicks. The best approach is to place several links to your manual in different sections of your web site: on product description page, on support page, and on download page. These are the pages where users expect to find an online help most of all. Show them your help-authoring masterpiece.
Make your online manual searchable
If your software is complicated and its help includes hundreds or even thousands of pages then you must add search capabilities to your online manual. From a user’s point of view it’s more convenient to search a required topic by keywords rather than to look through the endless list of topics in menu. The easiest way is adding a third-party search script to your online manual. For instance, Google offers Free WebSearch script that you can copy-paste into your HTML code to allow people searching within your site. However you won’t have full control over the third-party scripts and their search results may confuse you and your users. It’s better to write your own search script on which you will have total control. You can customize it according to your needs at any moment. This top-notch technique requires significant efforts and may cost some money if you decide to outsource it. But the result is that you will have a powerful information resource that will effectively work for you and for your business.
Create a word map of your help
Make a special Index page that contains all the significant words with direct links to the pages where these words are encountered. The Index page has two main functions. Firstly, it simplifies the topic search by keyword for users. Secondly, the Index page will serve as a map of your online help for web spiders and will assist them to crawl all the pages of your manual.
Make your help extendable
You may be surprised but the online help may be live. You can make it a center of an online community. Just allow your software users to extend your help pages themselves. A good example is PHP online documentation. It allows users to post their comments, code samples, and recommendations. Each page contains tons of valuable information contributed by users. This is a perfect example of how boring documentation may form a live community and promote the product accordingly.
To summarize the above tips: You must consider your manual as an important part of your business model. This is just a set of general recommendations how to get the maximum effect out of your online help. Most of the techniques are pretty easy to implement if you use good help authoring software. Apply this advice and make your customers feel happy, increase your web site visibility, attract new prospects, and generate new sales.